On Thursday, May 4th, three members of an informal committee for public safety met with District 45 Superintendent, Dr. William Schewe. The meeting came about as a result of a petition requesting the redrawing of school attendance areas for N. Chase through N. Westmore Avenues in Lombard. The petition was signed by 72 residents. The location of consideration is a unique area bound by the railroad and St. Charles Rd.
Dr. Schewe, District 45 Superintendent, opened by stating that if the Lombard area is to be redrawn, the Villa Park and Elmhurst area must be redrawn also as the entire area falls between St. Charles Rd. and the railroad tracks. District 45 is made up of portions of Lombard, Villa Park and Elmhurst and no special consideration will be made by the criteria of Village or Town. Dr. Schewe commented that as a boy growing up in Detroit he played on the railroad and crossed streets between safe crossing areas. He stated that kids are always going to take the shortest route, that’s just the way it is. Dr. Schewe feels that the illegal trespass of railroad property does not impose a greater threat than crossing St. Charles Rd. Further, he does not agree that changing the attendance area for these 3 ½ blocks of Lombard will deter children from crossing the tracks. "They will still have sports and other school-related competitions that will draw them from the side of the railroad." Dr. Schewe’s suggestion was that the railroad should put a pedestrian crossing at Westmore Ave. The railroad has already stated that they have no intention of adding any crossings. The Westmore area does not appear to be a candidate for an underpass, given that the area is prone to flooding. An overpass in this area is also unlikely. While the addition of a pedestrian crossing at this location would be helpful, it does not address all the concerns of the residents in the petition area.
According to District 45 census criteria, there are currently 14 children from the petition area that attend Schafer School and 0 children that attend Jefferson Middle School. The District Administration Center was informed, at this meeting, that their middle school census is incorrect; as it was made known that there are 3 students on N. Ahrens Ave. alone. It appears that the reason our Middle School children have been served by a bus stop several blocks away is due to this incorrectly entered data. Dr. Schewe felt that the problem could quickly be resolved and a stop could be added on St. Charles Rd. at one of our street corners. He will advise this at the May 15th meeting.
As of the May 4 meeting, District 45 School Superintendent will not make a recommendation to redraw the school attendance area. Dr. Schewe stated that unless petitioners can convince him that crossing at St. Charles Rd. possesses less of a threat than the railroad his decision will stand. There will be a School Board meeting held on Monday, May 15 at 7:30 PM at 255 W. Vermont, Villa Park, IL 60181. Concerned residents are invited to attend and make their intentions known.
What needs to be understood is that there are a number of special circumstances that pose safety issues for the children who reside on N. Chase, N. Highland and N. Ahrens Ave. These streets are unique in that they dead-end at the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. There is no legal route on to or off of these streets, by foot or by car, other than St. Charles Road. There are no other streets, south of the Union Pacific/Metra line, in Lombard, Villa Park, or Elmhurst that duplicate this condition. Given the lack of railroad crossing for greater than .5 mile children are taking "short-cuts" to cross at open areas at the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.